April 3, 2025 • 25 mins
A desperate voice pleads from an answering machine: "Help, help, help, let me out!" For Mildred Young, this haunting recording of her daughter Diane would become the soundtrack to decades of anguish and unanswered questions.
Diane Augat's story reveals how mental illness creates vulnerability that predators exploit with devastating consequences. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980s, Diane experienced a cascading series of losses—her children, her marriage, and ultimately her freedom through 32 involuntary commitments to mental health facilities. When she disappeared from Hudson, Florida in April 1998, few could have predicted the macabre discoveries that would follow.
What distinguishes this case is the apparent psychological game played by whoever took Diane. First came the desperate phone call to her mother's answering machine, then the discovery of Diane's severed finger along a highway, followed by her neatly folded clothes in a convenience store freezer. Two years later, a bag with her name containing personal items appeared at another store. These weren't just clues—they were taunts, deliberately placed to torment her family and baffle investigators.
The investigation revealed potential connections to Gary Roberts Evers, a local motel manager later imprisoned for murder, along with reports that troubled juveniles had taken advantage of Diane's trust. Witness sightings flooded in but led nowhere. Now cold for two decades, Diane's case exemplifies how those battling mental illness can fall through society's cracks, becoming perfect targets for those with the darkest intentions.
Do you have theories about what happened to Diane? We'd love to hear them. Subscribe to hear more stories of mysterious disappearances and help us bring attention to cases that deserve resolution.
Sources:
https://unresolved.me/diane-augat
https://charleyproject.org/case/diane-louise-augat
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2000/11/24/mother-clings-to-hope-for-missing-daughter/
https://morbidology.com/the-severed-finger-the-disappearance-of-diane-augat/
Music:
Crime Trap by Muza Production
Tense Dark Atmosphere by Universfield
Dark Ambient Emotions Music by Deus Lower
Gone in a Blink is created by Heather Hicks and Danielle E.
Written and produced by Heather Hicks and hosted by Danielle E. and Heather Hicks.
Gone in a Blink theme: Crime Trap created and produced by Muzaproduction
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Mental illness is like a double-edged sword.
On one end, it can manipulateyou into believing things that
simply are not true, creating asuffocating blanket of paranoia
and delusion that completelyalters a normal state of reality
.
On the other end, individualswith ill intention are drawn to
(00:42):
this kind of vulnerability.
Ill intention are drawn to thiskind of vulnerability, using
the mental illness in theirfavor to steal, cheat, torture
or even kill.
When Mildred Young's phone rangon April 15, 1998, five days
(01:02):
after her daughter went missing,she could have never guessed
just how important that missedphone call really was.
Her answering machine, however,recorded what continues to this
day to haunt her and play inher mind, leaving her to wonder
(01:23):
what would have happened if shehad made it to the phone.
This is the case of DianeAgathe, and this is Gone in a
(01:58):
Blank.
Hey, true crime fans, I'm yourhost, heather, and welcome to
episode 36 of Gone in a Blink.
Danielle is off this week,probably enjoying a much-needed
break.
I'm sure Spring break isfinally here and most of the
(02:21):
kiddos in our area have alreadyhad their spring break.
However, we are just nowgetting started.
I think for some reason theMidwest starts theirs earlier
than either one of the coastsand I'm not really sure why that
is.
I know we have a lot oflisteners from all over the
world, so I'm really curiouswhen do you start your spring
(02:44):
break?
So today's case is one out ofHudson, florida.
Today we are talking about thecase of missing mom Diane
Augette.
So if you're ready, let's jumpright in.
Diane Louise Young was born onFebruary 21st 1958 to parents
(03:07):
James and Mildred Young in NewYork.
Diane grew up in New York butended up relocating to Tampa,
florida, with her family.
While she was young she builtsome strong roots in the Tampa
area and by the late 1970s shehad met whom she believed at the
time to be the love of her life, a man by the name of Frederick
(03:30):
Agathe.
The two became engaged and thensoon married, and in the
beginning everything was pictureperfect.
Diane became pregnant with thecouple's first child and decided
to become a stay-at-home mom.
She wanted to take care of herchild herself and really be a
constant in this child's life.
(03:51):
She went on to have two morechildren with Frederick and in
all the couple shared twodaughters and one son.
By the late 1980s, diane's lifebegan to shift, as well as her
mental health, and she was soondiagnosed with bipolar disorder.
She was prescribed medicationfor her disorder.
(04:13):
However, she wasn't alwayscompliant with taking her meds
and after long periods ofneglect her mental health really
started to decline.
In 1988, diane began seekingmedical care for one of her
children to an excessive degree,and this was for treatments
that were deemed absolutelyunnecessary.
(04:35):
This is an illness known tomany as Munchausen by proxy.
So soon after, the childrenwere removed from Diane's
custody, and even though she wasacquitted of all charges, it
was pursued further by theDepartment of Children and
Families, and this wasconsequently the beginning of
(04:56):
the end for Diane.
In 1991, frederick filed fordivorce from Diane and regained
custody of all three of theirchildren, and the love that
Diane had for her children waslarger than life.
So this was pretty much whatlaunched Diane into a downward
spiral and really took a toll onher mental health.
(05:19):
Over the next several years,diane spent time in and out of
jail and mental healthfacilities.
Several years Diane spent timein and out of jail and mental
health facilities, and most ofher time spent in mental health
facilities were from beinginvoluntarily committed.
According to an articlepublished by the Unresolved
webpage, diane's brother-in-law,al Finkelstein, recalls quote
(05:42):
she's constantly talking toherself, you can tell right away
she's ill unquote.
During this period of time iswhen Diane began turning to
alcohol as well as drugs, in aneffort to kind of ease the pain
of losing her children.
It was reported that Diane hadbeen committed to mental health
facilities at least 32 timesunder the Baker Act, and the
(06:07):
Baker Act basically allows ajudge or police officer or a
doctor to decide whether or nota person is considered mentally
ill enough to pose a danger tothemselves or others.
By 1998, diane was faced withyet another involuntary trip to
the mental health facility,where she was committed against
(06:28):
her will.
When she was finally releasedin the spring of that same year,
she was released to her family.
However, many of her familymembers felt that she should
never have been released.
Diane began staying with hersister in Hudson after her
release from the mental healthfacility and, even though she
still had a house located inOdessa, her family felt that it
(06:52):
was just best for her to bearound her loved ones in the
hopes of getting her life backon track and maybe even possibly
getting her children back.
Just two weeks after Diane'srelease, on the morning of April
10th 1998, diane's sister leftthe house for a doctor's
appointment.
This would be the last time shewould ever see Diane.
(07:14):
When she returned home laterthat afternoon, Diane was not
there.
It was later reported thatDiane had left her sister's home
around 11 am on the morning ofApril 10th.
She was spotted later that dayat a bar along Little Road and
State Road 52 called the HayloftTavern.
The bartender recalls Dianebeing there until she was forced
(07:39):
to leave.
According to an article in theTampa Bay Times, diane's mother,
mildred, stated quote thebartender cut her off because
she was walking in circles.
To my knowledge, that was thelast anyone saw her, except for
the one who took her unquote.
The following day, on April11th, diane's family filed a
(08:02):
missing persons report.
Mildred and her family had grownaccustomed to Diane
disappearing here and there, andusually for no longer than a
couple of days.
However, this time wasdifferent and Diane had been
gone for longer than what shehad in the past.
Then, on April 15th, five daysafter Diane was last seen,
(08:26):
mildred would discover ahaunting phone message on her
answering machine.
In this recorded call, a womancould be heard on the other end
begging for help.
She can be heard saying, quoteHelp, help, help, let me out.
Unquote.
Help, help, help, let me out.
Unquote.
The woman sounded scared and itsounded as if she was
(08:49):
struggling to keep hold of thephone.
Then the woman could be heardsaying quote hey, give me that.
Unquote.
After that, the call isabruptly stopped.
There was no doubt in Mildred'smind that the phone call was
made by her daughter.
Mildred then attempted to callthe number back.
(09:09):
However, no one ever picked upthe phone.
The name on the caller IDindicated that the number the
woman called from was connectedto a business.
The name showed up as Starlighton the caller ID.
Later that same day, around 4 pm, a human finger was found by a
(09:30):
woman walking to work along USRoute 19 near New York Avenue.
The woman couldn't believe hereyes and she questioned whether
or not the finger was even real.
So the next day, after tellingher boyfriend, the couple went
back out to the location tolocate the finger even real.
So the next day after tellingher boyfriend, the couple went
back out to the location tolocate the finger.
The fingernail had been paintedwith red nail polish.
(09:51):
The woman's boyfriendimmediately called the Pasco
County Sheriff's Office, whoarrived shortly thereafter on
the scene.
After searching databasesauthorities were able to quickly
match the fingerprints to thatof Diane Agat.
Authorities immediately headedback out to the area where the
(10:12):
finger was found to search forany clues that could lead them
to Diane.
To search for any clues thatcould lead them to Diane, they
conducted a helicopter search ofthe area and hiked through what
felt like miles of terrain.
However, their search effortswere unsuccessful at finding any
sign of Diane.
Pasco County spokesman JohnPowers was quoted as saying when
(10:33):
Diane did not take hermedication correctly, her
personality would change, andduring these bouts she was known
to hang out with a pretty roughcrowd.
Then, on Saturday, april 18th1998, a very bizarre discovery
was made at a local conveniencestore where Diane would often
frequent.
Convenience store managerPatricia Blendorio happened to
(10:58):
come upon a pile of neatlyfolded clothing inside an
outdoor freezer.
Patricia knew Diane andtherefore she recognized the
clothing as being hers.
She reached out to Diane'ssister who confirmed that the
clothing was in fact Diane's.
Police had no way of knowingwhen the clothing had been
(11:18):
placed in the freezer due to thefact that the convenience store
staff hadn't been in theoutdoor freezer in approximately
three weeks prior to findingthe clothes.
So this is really sounding likea game at this point that the
abductor is playing withauthorities as well as with her
family.
(11:39):
First Diane's mother, mildred,gets a phone call from whom she
believes to be Diane.
Now, whether or not herabductor put her up to making
that phone call in an attempt totease Mildred, or maybe Diane
was able to get access to aphone and then tried to call her
mother for help, I feel likethat could have gone really
(11:59):
either way.
But then you have Diane'ssevered finger that is found
alongside the road, and now youhave Diane's clothes neatly
folded in a pile in an outdoorfreezer of a convenience store
that she was known to frequent.
So I guess my first question isdoes that freezer have a lock
(12:19):
on it allowing maybe only staffto access it?
There was nothing that I foundthat detailed what type of
freezer this was, but I wouldassume if it was the type of
freezer that held food and stufflike that, it would have some
sort of lock so that the publicjust you know couldn't go ahead
and get in there and access itwhenever they wanted to.
(12:40):
Or was this an ice freezerwhere you pay for the ice inside
the store and then you go in tothe freezer and grab your bag
of ice and be on about your way.
I mean, those types of freezersare not locked, at least during
store hours.
So it seems like if this was afreezer that remained locked, it
(13:00):
would narrow down thepossibilities of who could have
placed those clothes in thatfreezer.
Also, I was wondering aboutsurveillance cameras.
Now, authorities did announcethey were going to view security
footage.
However, nothing further wasever announced after that.
So you would certainly thinkthat the store had surveillance
(13:22):
cameras facing the freezer,right, I mean.
But however, this was back inthe 90s, so who knows how well
the footage would have beenanyway.
And what is always the responsegiven when asking any business
for surveillance video?
The response given when askingany business for surveillance
video Our cameras aren't working.
(13:43):
That is one of those thingsthat makes me cringe when I hear
in any case, that's the onething, the one thing that could
lead investigators to the victimor at least to the person
responsible, and it's the onething that could solve the case.
And their cameras are neverworking, ever.
It's ridiculous.
So then, another strangediscovery was made on November
(14:06):
25th 2000 at another localconvenience store frequented by
Diane and her family, diane'sbrother's girlfriend, a woman by
the name of Terry Wilson,walked into the local Circle K
convenience store on Highway 19near Hudson, and there, sitting
(14:27):
on top of the lottery counter,she spotted some random items
inside a plastic bag, and itlooked totally out of place,
obviously.
So she looked closer and sawthat written on the bag in black
marker was the name Diane.
So, realizing that this couldhave something to do with her
(14:48):
boyfriend's missing sister,terry grabbed the bag of items
and raced back to herboyfriend's house to show him
what she had just discovered.
The items found inside the bagconsisted of black eyeliner, hot
pink lipstick, taboo perfume ifanybody remembers that and
(15:09):
toothpaste.
It was later discovered thatthe toothpaste was the exact
same brand issued to patients bythe mental health facility that
Diane had been committed to.
So yet again, this is justanother way for the abductor to
toy with authorities in Diane'sdisappearance.
But obviously they are not tooworried about surveillance
(15:30):
cameras catching footage of them.
I mean, it's very bold to gointo a public place and put a
missing woman's possessions outin plain sight or in a freezer.
It makes me wonder if there wasa reason they weren't too
concerned about someone seeingthem.
I mean, I don't know.
Maybe they knew that thecameras weren't working.
(15:50):
I actually don't know if thecameras were working or not, but
for some reason they weren'tconcerned with surveillance
cameras catching them on tape.
And I would also like to knowmore about this business that
showed up on the caller ID whenMildred received that call, from
whom she believed to be Diane,the name that showed up on that
caller ID was Starlight.
(16:10):
I find this extremely strangein the sense that it was in fact
a business.
This raises so many questions.
What type of business was this?
Did this business have workingsurveillance cameras?
What type of business was this?
Did this business have workingsurveillance cameras?
Who had access to this place?
As always, there are probably alot of things that
investigators are holding closeto the vest, and rightfully so.
(16:34):
It just feels like with eachquestion we have 20 more
questions that come up up.
So it was reported that beforeDiane disappeared, she had been
hanging out with a group ofindividuals who were involved in
a lot of criminal activity.
It is believed that Diane hadallowed these juveniles to hang
out and occupy her home at timeswhile she was away, and it
(16:59):
didn't take long for thesejuveniles to invade her trust
and begin stealing from her.
Investigators believe that itcould be these juveniles that
were placing her items aroundtown.
Investigators did not say,however, if they believe the
juveniles were responsible forher disappearance.
And maybe they could beresponsible for placing her
(17:23):
items at the convenience storesin a tasteless attempt to play a
cruel joke.
I guess you know that is very,very possible.
Since Diane's disappearance,several witnesses have come
forward claiming to have seenDiane in the days after she went
missing.
One of those witnesses was awoman who had claimed to have
seen Diane on April 11th betweenthe hours of 3 and 4 pm,
(17:47):
walking along New York Avenue.
This was the same area in whichDiane's severed finger was
found.
Another witness claimed to haveseen Diane on the day that her
mother received the anonymousphone call.
This witness was a waitress atthe Inn on the Gulf in Hudson.
Neither one of these sightingshave been confirmed by police,
(18:10):
and this is so hard too becauseso many times witness sightings
start flooding in after someonegoes missing, and while I
believe it is so important forpolice to take every witness
sighting seriously,unfortunately so many of them
end up being BS, and I don'tjust mean sightings where people
(18:30):
actually think it is the victimand it ends up not being the
victim.
I'm talking about the peoplethat call in and are just
wanting attention or they'rejust playing a cruel joke and I
think that happens far more thanwe realize and it makes it very
hard for police because theyhave to check those tips and
(18:51):
when you have a lot of BS tipsthat come in it slows down the
investigation dramatically.
So Diane's case is stronglyconnected to that of another
case, a man by the name of GaryRoberts Evers who was convicted
of a motel shooting three yearsafter Diane's disappearance.
So basically on Wednesday June27th 2001, around 4 am, two men
(19:18):
wearing black ski masks bargedinto the office of the Coral
Sands Motel in Hudson Florida.
And basically the Coral SandsMotel in Hudson Florida and
basically the Coral Sands Motelwas a cheap motel frequented by
drifters and those who weretroubled.
The two men broke into theoffice and hit Rose Casper, who
was the hotel manager, in theface.
(19:38):
Rose yelled for her boyfriend,who was Gary, and he came
running.
But the two men were able toget away.
So the motel office was alsodubbed as a trailer and Gary and
Rose they lived in that trailer.
So the following evening on June28th, gary Evers would invite
(20:01):
the man that he believed had hithis girlfriend in the face the
night before.
That man was 26-year-old ToddCammers, who had a long history
of burglary and other criminaloffenses.
Gary invited him into theoffice slash trailer and held
him at gunpoint with a 9mmpistol.
He then proceeded tointerrogate Todd on whether or
(20:24):
not he was the one who hit Rosethe night before, and it is not
clarified exactly how Toddresponded, but I'm going to go
out on a limb and assume that heprobably denied having been
there the night before.
At that point it didn't evenmatter what he responded,
because Gary then proceeded toopen fire, emptying two entire
(20:47):
magazines into the body of26-year-old Todd Cammers.
Two days later, 52-year-oldGary Robert Evers was arrested
and charged with first-degreemurder.
So up until then Evers had noprior criminal history.
It was later revealed in courtthat Todd Cammers, the
26-year-old who was brutallymurdered by Gary Evers, had
(21:10):
nothing to do with the robberyat the Coral Sands Motel.
Cammers had actually just goneto the motel that night in an
effort to clear his name becausehe knew that Evers suspected
him in the robbery.
Evers was sentenced to life inprison and remained there until
his death in May of 2012.
(21:30):
So, as I mentioned, there arelinks between Diane's case and
Gary Evers' case, it seems.
Diane's family mentioned thatGary Roberts Evers was one of
the suspects that investigatorswere looking at in Diane's
disappearance, and the hotelthat he co-managed, the Coral
(21:51):
Sands Motel, was one of Diane'slast known locations and was
located just a short distancefrom where she was last seen
alive seen alive.
It was also reported that thislocation was close to the
location where the plastic bagcontaining Diane's belongings
were found just seven monthsearlier.
So that is quite a lot ofsimilarities between the two
(22:15):
cases.
Now, not saying that Gary Evershad anything to do with Diane's
disappearance, but you can'tignore all the similarities that
go along with that.
So I guess at this point wewill never know, since Gary
passed away, but it isdefinitely a possibility.
Diane's mother, mildred, saidthat Diane was a very trusting
(22:39):
person and liked men with money.
She loved camping, fishing andlistening to music.
Some of her fondest memoriesbefore she fell ill were of her
time spent camping and boatingwith her family.
She was once a housewife whodoted on her three beautiful
(23:00):
children and kept an immaculatehome.
She was a mom, she was adaughter and she was a person
whose life had meaning.
There has been no activity inDiane's case in almost two
decades.
No activity in Diane's case inalmost two decades,
(23:23):
unfortunately adding her case toa long list of cold cases.
Diane was born on February 21st1958.
She is a Caucasian female withdark hair and blue eyes.
She is five foot four inchestall, weighing 130 pounds.
She was last seen wearing awhite tank top, blue shorts and
(23:44):
white sneakers.
She has a bipolar disorder andis required to take medication.
However, she did not have itwith her when she went missing.
She may be using her maidenname, young.
Her fingernails were paintedcoral colored at the time of her
disappearance and her ears arepierced.
(24:05):
She has a scar on her abdomenand tattoos on her back and
right shoulder and I am actuallyjust catching this as I am
reporting this right now but itwas initially reported that the
severed finger found on the sideof the road was painted red.
I don't know if any of ourlisteners caught that.
I'm sure you probably did too.
However, it's reported that shewas last seen wearing coral
(24:29):
color nail polish.
So I don't know.
Could that simply be a mistake?
I don't know.
True crime sleuths.
Tell me what you think.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of Gone in a
Blink.
If you like our show, pleaseconsider giving us a five-star
review on Apple Podcasts orSpotify, and we love when you
(24:51):
follow us on any of our socialmedia sites and I will post
those links in our show notes.
And if you have an idea for ashow you'd like us to cover,
drop us an email atgoneinablinkpod at gmailcom.
And, last but not least, pleaseremember be safe, be smart and
(25:14):
try not to blink.
Mental illness is like a double-edged sword.
On one end, it can manipulateyou into believing things that
simply are not true, creating asuffocating blanket of paranoia
and delusion that completelyalters a normal state of reality
.
On the other end, individualswith ill intention are drawn to
(00:42):
this kind of vulnerability.
Ill intention are drawn to thiskind of vulnerability, using
the mental illness in theirfavor to steal, cheat, torture
or even kill.
When Mildred Young's phone rangon April 15, 1998, five days
(01:02):
after her daughter went missing,she could have never guessed
just how important that missedphone call really was.
Her answering machine, however,recorded what continues to this
day to haunt her and play inher mind, leaving her to wonder
(01:23):
what would have happened if shehad made it to the phone.
This is the case of DianeAgathe, and this is Gone in a
(01:58):
Blank.
Hey, true crime fans, I'm yourhost, heather, and welcome to
episode 36 of Gone in a Blink.
Danielle is off this week,probably enjoying a much-needed
break.
I'm sure Spring break isfinally here and most of the
(02:21):
kiddos in our area have alreadyhad their spring break.
However, we are just nowgetting started.
I think for some reason theMidwest starts theirs earlier
than either one of the coastsand I'm not really sure why that
is.
I know we have a lot oflisteners from all over the
world, so I'm really curiouswhen do you start your spring
(02:44):
break?
So today's case is one out ofHudson, florida.
Today we are talking about thecase of missing mom Diane
Augette.
So if you're ready, let's jumpright in.
Diane Louise Young was born onFebruary 21st 1958 to parents
(03:07):
James and Mildred Young in NewYork.
Diane grew up in New York butended up relocating to Tampa,
florida, with her family.
While she was young she builtsome strong roots in the Tampa
area and by the late 1970s shehad met whom she believed at the
time to be the love of her life, a man by the name of Frederick
(03:30):
Agathe.
The two became engaged and thensoon married, and in the
beginning everything was pictureperfect.
Diane became pregnant with thecouple's first child and decided
to become a stay-at-home mom.
She wanted to take care of herchild herself and really be a
constant in this child's life.
(03:51):
She went on to have two morechildren with Frederick and in
all the couple shared twodaughters and one son.
By the late 1980s, diane's lifebegan to shift, as well as her
mental health, and she was soondiagnosed with bipolar disorder.
She was prescribed medicationfor her disorder.
(04:13):
However, she wasn't alwayscompliant with taking her meds
and after long periods ofneglect her mental health really
started to decline.
In 1988, diane began seekingmedical care for one of her
children to an excessive degree,and this was for treatments
that were deemed absolutelyunnecessary.
(04:35):
This is an illness known tomany as Munchausen by proxy.
So soon after, the childrenwere removed from Diane's
custody, and even though she wasacquitted of all charges, it
was pursued further by theDepartment of Children and
Families, and this wasconsequently the beginning of
(04:56):
the end for Diane.
In 1991, frederick filed fordivorce from Diane and regained
custody of all three of theirchildren, and the love that
Diane had for her children waslarger than life.
So this was pretty much whatlaunched Diane into a downward
spiral and really took a toll onher mental health.
(05:19):
Over the next several years,diane spent time in and out of
jail and mental healthfacilities.
Several years Diane spent timein and out of jail and mental
health facilities, and most ofher time spent in mental health
facilities were from beinginvoluntarily committed.
According to an articlepublished by the Unresolved
webpage, diane's brother-in-law,al Finkelstein, recalls quote
(05:42):
she's constantly talking toherself, you can tell right away
she's ill unquote.
During this period of time iswhen Diane began turning to
alcohol as well as drugs, in aneffort to kind of ease the pain
of losing her children.
It was reported that Diane hadbeen committed to mental health
facilities at least 32 timesunder the Baker Act, and the
(06:07):
Baker Act basically allows ajudge or police officer or a
doctor to decide whether or nota person is considered mentally
ill enough to pose a danger tothemselves or others.
By 1998, diane was faced withyet another involuntary trip to
the mental health facility,where she was committed against
(06:28):
her will.
When she was finally releasedin the spring of that same year,
she was released to her family.
However, many of her familymembers felt that she should
never have been released.
Diane began staying with hersister in Hudson after her
release from the mental healthfacility and, even though she
still had a house located inOdessa, her family felt that it
(06:52):
was just best for her to bearound her loved ones in the
hopes of getting her life backon track and maybe even possibly
getting her children back.
Just two weeks after Diane'srelease, on the morning of April
10th 1998, diane's sister leftthe house for a doctor's
appointment.
This would be the last time shewould ever see Diane.
(07:14):
When she returned home laterthat afternoon, Diane was not
there.
It was later reported thatDiane had left her sister's home
around 11 am on the morning ofApril 10th.
She was spotted later that dayat a bar along Little Road and
State Road 52 called the HayloftTavern.
The bartender recalls Dianebeing there until she was forced
(07:39):
to leave.
According to an article in theTampa Bay Times, diane's mother,
mildred, stated quote thebartender cut her off because
she was walking in circles.
To my knowledge, that was thelast anyone saw her, except for
the one who took her unquote.
The following day, on April11th, diane's family filed a
(08:02):
missing persons report.
Mildred and her family had grownaccustomed to Diane
disappearing here and there, andusually for no longer than a
couple of days.
However, this time wasdifferent and Diane had been
gone for longer than what shehad in the past.
Then, on April 15th, five daysafter Diane was last seen,
(08:26):
mildred would discover ahaunting phone message on her
answering machine.
In this recorded call, a womancould be heard on the other end
begging for help.
She can be heard saying, quoteHelp, help, help, let me out.
Unquote.
Help, help, help, let me out.
Unquote.
The woman sounded scared and itsounded as if she was
(08:49):
struggling to keep hold of thephone.
Then the woman could be heardsaying quote hey, give me that.
Unquote.
After that, the call isabruptly stopped.
There was no doubt in Mildred'smind that the phone call was
made by her daughter.
Mildred then attempted to callthe number back.
(09:09):
However, no one ever picked upthe phone.
The name on the caller IDindicated that the number the
woman called from was connectedto a business.
The name showed up as Starlighton the caller ID.
Later that same day, around 4 pm, a human finger was found by a
(09:30):
woman walking to work along USRoute 19 near New York Avenue.
The woman couldn't believe hereyes and she questioned whether
or not the finger was even real.
So the next day, after tellingher boyfriend, the couple went
back out to the location tolocate the finger even real.
So the next day after tellingher boyfriend, the couple went
back out to the location tolocate the finger.
The fingernail had been paintedwith red nail polish.
(09:51):
The woman's boyfriendimmediately called the Pasco
County Sheriff's Office, whoarrived shortly thereafter on
the scene.
After searching databasesauthorities were able to quickly
match the fingerprints to thatof Diane Agat.
Authorities immediately headedback out to the area where the
(10:12):
finger was found to search forany clues that could lead them
to Diane.
To search for any clues thatcould lead them to Diane, they
conducted a helicopter search ofthe area and hiked through what
felt like miles of terrain.
However, their search effortswere unsuccessful at finding any
sign of Diane.
Pasco County spokesman JohnPowers was quoted as saying when
(10:33):
Diane did not take hermedication correctly, her
personality would change, andduring these bouts she was known
to hang out with a pretty roughcrowd.
Then, on Saturday, april 18th1998, a very bizarre discovery
was made at a local conveniencestore where Diane would often
frequent.
Convenience store managerPatricia Blendorio happened to
(10:58):
come upon a pile of neatlyfolded clothing inside an
outdoor freezer.
Patricia knew Diane andtherefore she recognized the
clothing as being hers.
She reached out to Diane'ssister who confirmed that the
clothing was in fact Diane's.
Police had no way of knowingwhen the clothing had been
(11:18):
placed in the freezer due to thefact that the convenience store
staff hadn't been in theoutdoor freezer in approximately
three weeks prior to findingthe clothes.
So this is really sounding likea game at this point that the
abductor is playing withauthorities as well as with her
family.
(11:39):
First Diane's mother, mildred,gets a phone call from whom she
believes to be Diane.
Now, whether or not herabductor put her up to making
that phone call in an attempt totease Mildred, or maybe Diane
was able to get access to aphone and then tried to call her
mother for help, I feel likethat could have gone really
(11:59):
either way.
But then you have Diane'ssevered finger that is found
alongside the road, and now youhave Diane's clothes neatly
folded in a pile in an outdoorfreezer of a convenience store
that she was known to frequent.
So I guess my first question isdoes that freezer have a lock
(12:19):
on it allowing maybe only staffto access it?
There was nothing that I foundthat detailed what type of
freezer this was, but I wouldassume if it was the type of
freezer that held food and stufflike that, it would have some
sort of lock so that the publicjust you know couldn't go ahead
and get in there and access itwhenever they wanted to.
(12:40):
Or was this an ice freezerwhere you pay for the ice inside
the store and then you go in tothe freezer and grab your bag
of ice and be on about your way.
I mean, those types of freezersare not locked, at least during
store hours.
So it seems like if this was afreezer that remained locked, it
(13:00):
would narrow down thepossibilities of who could have
placed those clothes in thatfreezer.
Also, I was wondering aboutsurveillance cameras.
Now, authorities did announcethey were going to view security
footage.
However, nothing further wasever announced after that.
So you would certainly thinkthat the store had surveillance
(13:22):
cameras facing the freezer,right, I mean.
But however, this was back inthe 90s, so who knows how well
the footage would have beenanyway.
And what is always the responsegiven when asking any business
for surveillance video?
The response given when askingany business for surveillance
video Our cameras aren't working.
(13:43):
That is one of those thingsthat makes me cringe when I hear
in any case, that's the onething, the one thing that could
lead investigators to the victimor at least to the person
responsible, and it's the onething that could solve the case.
And their cameras are neverworking, ever.
It's ridiculous.
So then, another strangediscovery was made on November
(14:06):
25th 2000 at another localconvenience store frequented by
Diane and her family, diane'sbrother's girlfriend, a woman by
the name of Terry Wilson,walked into the local Circle K
convenience store on Highway 19near Hudson, and there, sitting
(14:27):
on top of the lottery counter,she spotted some random items
inside a plastic bag, and itlooked totally out of place,
obviously.
So she looked closer and sawthat written on the bag in black
marker was the name Diane.
So, realizing that this couldhave something to do with her
(14:48):
boyfriend's missing sister,terry grabbed the bag of items
and raced back to herboyfriend's house to show him
what she had just discovered.
The items found inside the bagconsisted of black eyeliner, hot
pink lipstick, taboo perfume ifanybody remembers that and
(15:09):
toothpaste.
It was later discovered thatthe toothpaste was the exact
same brand issued to patients bythe mental health facility that
Diane had been committed to.
So yet again, this is justanother way for the abductor to
toy with authorities in Diane'sdisappearance.
But obviously they are not tooworried about surveillance
(15:30):
cameras catching footage of them.
I mean, it's very bold to gointo a public place and put a
missing woman's possessions outin plain sight or in a freezer.
It makes me wonder if there wasa reason they weren't too
concerned about someone seeingthem.
I mean, I don't know.
Maybe they knew that thecameras weren't working.
(15:50):
I actually don't know if thecameras were working or not, but
for some reason they weren'tconcerned with surveillance
cameras catching them on tape.
And I would also like to knowmore about this business that
showed up on the caller ID whenMildred received that call, from
whom she believed to be Diane,the name that showed up on that
caller ID was Starlight.
(16:10):
I find this extremely strangein the sense that it was in fact
a business.
This raises so many questions.
What type of business was this?
Did this business have workingsurveillance cameras?
What type of business was this?
Did this business have workingsurveillance cameras?
Who had access to this place?
As always, there are probably alot of things that
investigators are holding closeto the vest, and rightfully so.
(16:34):
It just feels like with eachquestion we have 20 more
questions that come up up.
So it was reported that beforeDiane disappeared, she had been
hanging out with a group ofindividuals who were involved in
a lot of criminal activity.
It is believed that Diane hadallowed these juveniles to hang
out and occupy her home at timeswhile she was away, and it
(16:59):
didn't take long for thesejuveniles to invade her trust
and begin stealing from her.
Investigators believe that itcould be these juveniles that
were placing her items aroundtown.
Investigators did not say,however, if they believe the
juveniles were responsible forher disappearance.
And maybe they could beresponsible for placing her
(17:23):
items at the convenience storesin a tasteless attempt to play a
cruel joke.
I guess you know that is very,very possible.
Since Diane's disappearance,several witnesses have come
forward claiming to have seenDiane in the days after she went
missing.
One of those witnesses was awoman who had claimed to have
seen Diane on April 11th betweenthe hours of 3 and 4 pm,
(17:47):
walking along New York Avenue.
This was the same area in whichDiane's severed finger was
found.
Another witness claimed to haveseen Diane on the day that her
mother received the anonymousphone call.
This witness was a waitress atthe Inn on the Gulf in Hudson.
Neither one of these sightingshave been confirmed by police,
(18:10):
and this is so hard too becauseso many times witness sightings
start flooding in after someonegoes missing, and while I
believe it is so important forpolice to take every witness
sighting seriously,unfortunately so many of them
end up being BS, and I don'tjust mean sightings where people
(18:30):
actually think it is the victimand it ends up not being the
victim.
I'm talking about the peoplethat call in and are just
wanting attention or they'rejust playing a cruel joke and I
think that happens far more thanwe realize and it makes it very
hard for police because theyhave to check those tips and
(18:51):
when you have a lot of BS tipsthat come in it slows down the
investigation dramatically.
So Diane's case is stronglyconnected to that of another
case, a man by the name of GaryRoberts Evers who was convicted
of a motel shooting three yearsafter Diane's disappearance.
So basically on Wednesday June27th 2001, around 4 am, two men
(19:18):
wearing black ski masks bargedinto the office of the Coral
Sands Motel in Hudson Florida.
And basically the Coral SandsMotel in Hudson Florida and
basically the Coral Sands Motelwas a cheap motel frequented by
drifters and those who weretroubled.
The two men broke into theoffice and hit Rose Casper, who
was the hotel manager, in theface.
(19:38):
Rose yelled for her boyfriend,who was Gary, and he came
running.
But the two men were able toget away.
So the motel office was alsodubbed as a trailer and Gary and
Rose they lived in that trailer.
So the following evening on June28th, gary Evers would invite
(20:01):
the man that he believed had hithis girlfriend in the face the
night before.
That man was 26-year-old ToddCammers, who had a long history
of burglary and other criminaloffenses.
Gary invited him into theoffice slash trailer and held
him at gunpoint with a 9mmpistol.
He then proceeded tointerrogate Todd on whether or
(20:24):
not he was the one who hit Rosethe night before, and it is not
clarified exactly how Toddresponded, but I'm going to go
out on a limb and assume that heprobably denied having been
there the night before.
At that point it didn't evenmatter what he responded,
because Gary then proceeded toopen fire, emptying two entire
(20:47):
magazines into the body of26-year-old Todd Cammers.
Two days later, 52-year-oldGary Robert Evers was arrested
and charged with first-degreemurder.
So up until then Evers had noprior criminal history.
It was later revealed in courtthat Todd Cammers, the
26-year-old who was brutallymurdered by Gary Evers, had
(21:10):
nothing to do with the robberyat the Coral Sands Motel.
Cammers had actually just goneto the motel that night in an
effort to clear his name becausehe knew that Evers suspected
him in the robbery.
Evers was sentenced to life inprison and remained there until
his death in May of 2012.
(21:30):
So, as I mentioned, there arelinks between Diane's case and
Gary Evers' case, it seems.
Diane's family mentioned thatGary Roberts Evers was one of
the suspects that investigatorswere looking at in Diane's
disappearance, and the hotelthat he co-managed, the Coral
(21:51):
Sands Motel, was one of Diane'slast known locations and was
located just a short distancefrom where she was last seen
alive seen alive.
It was also reported that thislocation was close to the
location where the plastic bagcontaining Diane's belongings
were found just seven monthsearlier.
So that is quite a lot ofsimilarities between the two
(22:15):
cases.
Now, not saying that Gary Evershad anything to do with Diane's
disappearance, but you can'tignore all the similarities that
go along with that.
So I guess at this point wewill never know, since Gary
passed away, but it isdefinitely a possibility.
Diane's mother, mildred, saidthat Diane was a very trusting
(22:39):
person and liked men with money.
She loved camping, fishing andlistening to music.
Some of her fondest memoriesbefore she fell ill were of her
time spent camping and boatingwith her family.
She was once a housewife whodoted on her three beautiful
(23:00):
children and kept an immaculatehome.
She was a mom, she was adaughter and she was a person
whose life had meaning.
There has been no activity inDiane's case in almost two
decades.
No activity in Diane's case inalmost two decades,
(23:23):
unfortunately adding her case toa long list of cold cases.
Diane was born on February 21st1958.
She is a Caucasian female withdark hair and blue eyes.
She is five foot four inchestall, weighing 130 pounds.
She was last seen wearing awhite tank top, blue shorts and
(23:44):
white sneakers.
She has a bipolar disorder andis required to take medication.
However, she did not have itwith her when she went missing.
She may be using her maidenname, young.
Her fingernails were paintedcoral colored at the time of her
disappearance and her ears arepierced.
(24:05):
She has a scar on her abdomenand tattoos on her back and
right shoulder and I am actuallyjust catching this as I am
reporting this right now but itwas initially reported that the
severed finger found on the sideof the road was painted red.
I don't know if any of ourlisteners caught that.
I'm sure you probably did too.
However, it's reported that shewas last seen wearing coral
(24:29):
color nail polish.
So I don't know.
Could that simply be a mistake?
I don't know.
True crime sleuths.
Tell me what you think.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of Gone in a
Blink.
If you like our show, pleaseconsider giving us a five-star
review on Apple Podcasts orSpotify, and we love when you
(24:51):
follow us on any of our socialmedia sites and I will post
those links in our show notes.
And if you have an idea for ashow you'd like us to cover,
drop us an email atgoneinablinkpod at gmailcom.
And, last but not least, pleaseremember be safe, be smart and
(25:14):
try not to blink.
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